Sanitary faucet



Sept. 30, 1958 w. sTELzER SANITARY FAUCET Filed Aug. 15, 1955 INVENTOR. @Y

:anzi y we United States Patent SANITARY FAUCET William Stelzer, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., assignor to Walter Eickele, Summit, N. 1.

Application August 15, 1955, Serial No. 528,190

4 Claims. (Cl. 251-147) The invention relates to a sanitary faucet and more particularly to a sanitary dispensing faucet having closable spouts with means for the quick assembly of the faucet.

The object of the invention is to provide a straight and open passage in the faucet body for easy cleaning, an accessible sealing surface at the end of the passage, and a removable pivoted lid serving as a stopper to close the passage.

Another object is to provide a novel faucet in which the faucet body and a pivoted closable lid cooperate to act as a spout and where such spout is closable at its mouth so that when the faucet is closed no surface that has been in contact with the dispensed liquid is exposed.

Another object is to provide a longitudinally split and separable spout and sealing means therefor.

Another object is to provide a diaphragm type seal with a lip to close the mouth of the spout.

Another object is to include resilient means to retain the sealing elements relative to the faucet body and to bias them into a sealing position.

A further object is to construct a faucet that is selfclosing, with means to keep it open in the extreme open position.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawing submitted for the purpose of illustration and not to dene the scope of the invention, reference being had for that purpose to the subjoined claims. ln the drawing wherein similar reference characters refer to `similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a faucet embodying the invention;

Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3, a section taken on lines 3 3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4, the same section as Fig. 3, but showing the faucet in the open position; and

Fig. 5, a side elevation showing the sealing lid of the faucet;

Fig. 6, a section taken on lines 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of elements illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practised or carried out in various Ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not limitation.

Referring now to Figs. l-6, the faucet comprises a faucet body 1 having a shank or conduit 2 leading to a conventional liquid or beverage container which is not shown as it is not a part of this invention. The connection of conduit 2 to the container may be fixed, or a conventional coupling may be used. Conduit 2 and 2,854,208 Patented Sept. 30, 1958 ice body 1 are shown as being permanently joined together to form a single piece so that conduit 2 may be regarded as a part of body 1, having a common straight passage 3 communicating with the liquid container and leading to a spout passage 4 formed by a seal 5 which is part of a lid indicated in general by numeral 6, shown in detail in Fig. 5. This lid has a sheet metal backing plate 7 to which the seal is molded, with an arm 8 extending to be engaged by a cam 10 of an operating lever 11 having trunnions 12 pivoted in coils 14 of a wire spring 15 holding lid 6 against body 1 to seal chamber 4 and passage 3. Lid 6 has flat parallel sides fitting snugly between the side walls 16 of body 1 and sealing edges 17 fitting against face 18 of body 1 when the faucet is closed. In the closed position the edge or lip 20 of seal 5 is seated on face 18 so that the mouth of the spout is completely sealed. Lid 6 has pivot projections 21 struck out of the plane of sheet metal backing plate 7 to rest against the pivot on the upper part of face 1S of body 1. The rubberlike seal 5 also rests against face 18 along the upper edge of face 18, but the pivot projections relieve the seal of excessive pressure exerted by spring 15. Spring 15 is made of a single piece of wire whose ends are bent to be opposite to and coaxial with each other, and engage grooves 23 in body 1. The ends of the wire in grooves 23 are shown by dotted lines in Fig. 6. The ends of the wire seated in grooves 23 form one end of the spring, and the bent central portion 24 of the wire the other end, pressing lid 6 against face 18 of body 1. Small projections 25 struck out of the sheet metal of backing plate 7 serve to confine the bent end 24 of spring 15 to the place where it is seated against lid 6. The thrust exerted by end 24 on lid 6 is in the direction towards grooves 23, so that the base of arm 8 is urged to rest on the top of body 1 adjacent the upper end of face 18, whereby lid 6 is confined in the position shown and may be pivoted on a pivotal axis adjacent pivot projection 21, spring 15 biasing lid 6 into a closed position.

Describing now the operation of the faucet, forward movement of lever 11 depresses arm 8 so that lid 6 is pivoted on projections 21 to assume a position shown in Fig. 4, whereby liquid is dispensed through spout passage 4, causing a stream that is rectangular in crosssection where it leaves the open mouth of the spout. Release of lever 11 returns lid 6 into the closed position as shown in Fig. 3. lf lever 11 is pulled completely forward the faucet will remain open although the lever is released. The cam surface 10 of lever- 11 is such that lever 11 may be pushed from the position shown in Fig. 2 towards the container without causing damage or opening of the faucet. To remove lid 6 from the body the wire ends of spring 15 are snapped out of grooves 23 and the closure elements are freed for removal. Lever 11 and spring 15 stay together as a unit as these can be easily cleaned without being taken apart, and lid 6 is a separate element where the surface that has been in contact with the liquid medium is fully exposed for easy cleaning.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A sanitary faucet for dispensing liquids comprising a lixed body, a lid adapted to swing about a pivotal axis resting against said body, a liquid passage intermediate said lid and said body, a liquid passage in said body in communication with said rst mentioned liquid passage, said lid and a portion of said body together forming a spout, the portion of Said lid remotest from said pivotal axis and a portion of said body adjacent said remotest portion forming the mouth of said spout, a rubberlike seal secured to said lid to peripherally seal between said lid and said body, detachable resilient means engaging said body and said lid to bias said lid into a position ,Why/ere saidinionth isuclosedmand retaining said `iid in an "ssembied position, lever means to swing said lid into an 'openposition to 'dispense'lquid owng 'from said passages through saidifirnouth, said lever means in- 4c :luing anianually operahielever pivoted torsaiddetachi Y operatively'cnritedfvvith 's'id to Aanrpen position against the eineeonsiretinaslcianied in* reim 1, wherein said pport manually. operated lever. itary "facetf for dispensing liquids including 'di body, a jl'iquid fpassage in'jsaid xljt'idy c on saidliirstjmentioned liquid p'asd a nd aj) rtiniof s'aid body together formiit, the' portion offs'aiddid"iremotest'from said fpiital airis: and "ai portion Vfof lsaid I "'body Yadjacent s'aid 41. il nga-gehent 'of said/spring ffnf saidl'fbodyffes'sidlid for removal from said body, an arm extending from said said wire spring, said maifally operable lever having a cam engaging said arm to swing said lid into an open position upon actuation of said lever against the force of said wire spring.

4. The construction according to claim 3, where said cam is shaped to'resist the vforce of said spring tending to return said lid toa closdiposltibnvhen said lever is in an extreme position Where the faucet is fully open, so Y' that said fu'cetis :heid 'p'n`aid therefore "i't selfclosing in that position.

References Cited inthe 1eofthis patent UNITED STATES -PATENTS '18,257 'Australia ;ruiy 3,

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